


A Very Happy Birthday

by bluedragoninamber



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Birthday Presents, Boys Will Be Boys, Fluff, Food Fight, GFY, Gen, Very sticky, cherry surprise, very messy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:37:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9087280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedragoninamber/pseuds/bluedragoninamber
Summary: Qui-Gon attempts to make his master's favorite dessert to celebrate Dooku's birthday.  Things don't go according to plan.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [verhalen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verhalen/gifts).



** Disclaimer ** **: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

 ** AN ** **: This story is a gift for verhalen as a thank you for writing “Stuck In the Middle With You,” and amazing Dooku/OMC story that gives Dooku (and many other favorite characters) the happiness they never got in canon. Verhalen wanted Master Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon fluff. So here you go. I hope you enjoy it. This story is in an AU where Dooku and Mace were agemates.  Warning for a malfunctioning Force, a mortified padawan, a long-suffering master, and some very silly, very messy fluff.**

            When Dooku walked into his kitchen that evening, he expected to see his padawan waiting for him. And yes, Qui-Gon was there…just a great deal redder and stickier than he had expected. In fact, he mirrored the state of their kitchen.

            Dooku counted to ten, reminded himself that using Force Lightning on his padawan was not appropriate, and slowly and carefully set his lightsaber well out of reach of his too-eager hands.

            “Padawan,” he sighed, “What have I told you about mixing your lackluster cooking skills with your imperfect command of the Force?”

            Qui-Gon’s utterly defeated blue eyes met his. “But I wasn’t cooking, Master! It’s your birthday today. Master Yoda told me, and I asked him for something very easy I could make you as a present. He gave me his recipe for the cherry surprise you like so much. It’s just cherry sauce and cream, and it doesn’t require any cooking.” He looked dazedly down at himself and then around their kitchen. “I don’t know why it didn’t work.”

            Dooku’s grey eyes narrowed. “Padawan, Master Yoda has a tendency to be absent-minded about certain things. Did you happen to check the recipe to make sure he gave you the version meant for two people rather than the one the Temple kitchen uses when the cherry surprise has to feed the whole Council?”

            “Um….no. I guess that explains why there seemed to be so much of everything. It was so hard to mix all of it, so I tried to use the Force to help me.” Qui-Gon looked as though he wanted to disappear through a crack in the currently very sticky floor.

            Dooku opened his mouth to issue a reprimand and berate the boy, but he stopped short when he realized that Qui-Gon was perilously close to tears. Their training bond vibrated with his padawan’s disappointment and frustration, and Dooku knew immediately that the impulse that had driven his padawan to do this had been utterly selfless and born out of the love that Dooku knew the boy felt for him. Though he did not speak of it aloud, Dooku acknowledged that he felt the same for Qui-Gon. The boy had simply wanted to make him happy, and, though the result had been unfortunate, he found himself deeply touched by the boy’s affection for him.

            “Padawan…there’s nothing to cry about. There’s no permanent harm done. Clothes can be replaced. Kitchens can be cleaned.” Dooku’s reassurance did not help.

            “But I ruined your birthday!” Qui-Gon grumbled. “Why can’t I ever do anything right?”

            Dooku sighed, rubbing his forehead. He did not like to hear Qui-Gon talk about himself that way. The boy was a perfectionist, something Dooku suspected he’d picked up from his master. Dooku had always been the same. As he ran a distracted hand through his hair, his fingers caught on his padawan braid. He would deny it to his last breath, but the braid reminded him of his own padawan days when he’d once been in a very similar situation with Master Yoda. Yoda’s solution had been…unexpected.

            “Qui-Gon, though it may shock you to learn this, I was once in this very same situation with Master Yoda when I was a young padawan.” He paused, reminding himself sternly that he was a master and that he shouldn’t even be considering the…mischief…he was considering. But then again, Qui-Gon and their kitchen were more than halfway there already. And who was ever going to know?

            Dooku smiled. “Yoda’s solution was not the most masterly one, but it was a very creative use of resources already there. Would you be interested in participating in that solution with me?”

            Qui-Gon frowned, absently licking cherry sauce off his lips as he puzzled his way through Dooku’s verbal fencing. Suddenly, his blue eyes widened, and his master knew he’d understood what Dooku was suggesting.

            Qui-Gon smiled. “I never thought mischief like that was your style, Master.”

            Dooku shrugged, and his grey eyes were amused. “Just between us, Padawan, Mace and I got up to more than our share of mischief as padawans.” Qui-Gon was barefoot, so Dooku removed his own boots, placing them with his robe and outer garments far out of harm’s way.

            “It has not been so long, Padawan, that I don’t remember how.” Dooku smirked at the boy. “And it is, after all, my birthday.”

            Qui-Gon laughed, picking up a bowl. “Happy birthday, Master!” he said, just before Dooku got a face full of cherry sauce.

            “Oh, it’s on!” Dooku shouted, dumping cream over his padawan’s head.

            For the next half hour, cherry sauce and cream flew back and forth across the kitchen in time with their laughter. The floor was covered in it, and when Dooku caught his boy around the waist, trying to knock him off his feet, they both went down in the slippery mess. Qui-Gon pounced on his master, and the two of them wrestled until there wasn’t a clean spot left on either of them.

            Finally, Dooku shoved the boy off him. “Enough, Qui-Gon, let me catch my breath!”

            As breathless as his master, Qui-Gon let go and offered his arm to Dooku so they could both sit up, leaning against the cabinets, panting and trying to stop laughing long enough to settle their breathing.

            Still chuckling, Dooku reached out and fondly tugged on his padawan’s filthy braid.

            “You’re a mess, Padawan,” Dooku said, licking cherry sauce off his lips.

            Qui-Gon snorted. “Like you’re any better, Master.” He tugged on Dooku’s equally filthy braid. “But calling you master right now seems ridiculous.”

            Dooku grinned. “Even masters can get up to mischief, Padawan.” He laughed. “You should have seen what Yoda looked like covered in cherry sauce and cream!”

            Qui-Gon giggled. “I would have paid a heap of credits to see that!” He eyed his master. “But today is your birthday, not Yoda’s.” Qui-Gon smirked. “Want to play some more?”

            This time, Dooku pounced.

           Much later, he would admit that it had been the happiest birthday that he’d ever had.


End file.
